Pitt landed a Grad transfer.  Michigan Offensive Tackle Nolan Ulizio committed to Pitt yesterday.

Much like last year’s Grad transfer Offensive Tackle, Stefano Millin, Ulizio was a two-star recruit.  Unlike Millin, Ulizio was given the opportunity to play at a Power Five School.  He had a total of 11 offers the most notable being Pitt, Kentucky and Michigan, and he chose Michigan.

According to PSN’s Mike Vukovcan, Ulizio started 7 games for UM last year.  Ulizio was was relieved of his duties in the 8th game, and only played in spot-duty after that.

So at the very least Ulizio has some game experience.  Besides Redshirt Sophomore Gabe Houy and Redshirt Junior Brandon Ford, every other offensive Tackle on Pitt’s roster is either a redshirt or true Freshman, so you’d have to think Ulizio will bring some much needed depth and experience to the line.   Whether or not he can actually block remains to be seen.

In other news Lamont Wade has decided to stay put at Penn State for at least another season.

It appears that Franklin has sold him on Penn Stat’s national title hopes, if not in 2019, then in 2020.  As

It’s likely Wade figured that sitting out a year at any other school was a worse option than even partial playing time at Penn State.  Either way, he’s not coming to Pitt in 2019, and personally I’m glad for that.

There is also speculation that Pitt is still in the market for grad transfer Tight End.  Given the state of the roster, I would not disagree with that.  According to 247 Sports, here is a list of everybody currently in the Transfer Portal.

And here is a list of undecided Tight Ends:

Lou Dorsey, Illinois
Christian Roberson, Mississippi State
Eli Wolf, Tennessee
Naseir Upshur, Florida State
Chris Cunningham, Virginia Tech
Kyle Penniston, Wisconsin
Nakia Griffin-Stewart, Rutgers

Mike Vukovcan mentioned in a video last week that Tennessee’s Eli Wolf and Florida State’s Naseir Upshur are one to keep an eye on, but as far as I’m concerned they are all fair game, except for maybe VT’s Chris Cunningham (could be blocked due to scheduling).  For what it’s worth, Vukovcan did correctly preduct the Ulizio transfer.  Vuk had one other OT in the mix as well, Tennessee’s Drew Richmond, who is a four-star guy, has immediate eligibility and has not yet committed anywhere.  With that being said, Richmond is from Memphis, and we just landed Ulizio, so Richmond may be a pipe-dream at this point.

Lastly, there are two actual recruits we are still chasing.  Aliquippa’s MJ Devonshire and on Alante Brown out of Michigan.  We all know the story on Devonshire, the last local four-star prospect on our radar.  The question right now is can Narduzzi reel him in?

Brown is a late add, likely because of new OC Mark Whipple.  Brown is a 5’10 speedster and I believe we are looking at him at WR.  Brown was previously committed to Michigan State.  He’s three-star guy of course, but his offer list is a mile long an includes such notable programs as Florida State, Minnesota, Missouri, Purdue, Iowa State and Texas Tech.  It sounds like he is a heavy Florida State lean after visiting there, but don’t rule out Pitt if Narduzzi can get him to take an official visit this weekend.  Here’s to hoping Whipple and the Duzz can reel him in.

Hail to Pitt

Michaelangelo